The Virus
by POPpop
Summary: Ianto begins to noice strange thing happening to his body, and the past comes back to haunt Torchwood Three. JackIanto and others.


_AN: here it is, my first torchwood fic. I just recently became interested in the show and am very much in love with Jack/Ianto. The idea for this fic hit me pretty suddenly and I thought it would be an interesting angle to explore. Hope you enjoy._

Ianto awoke to the hum and whir of his shower, something with which he was rapidly becoming accustomed. Tilting his head slightly, he squinted out the window into pre-dawn darkness. It hadn't always been so, but Ianto had become a rather early riser, which suited him fine, as Jack was as well.

He slid back the covers and moved to rise, feeling, as he did, a sharp pang suddenly seize his lower stomach, causing him to shudder and clutch at the bedpost. He'd begun to receive these pain two days earlier. He didn't mention it to Jack because he knew Jack would be worried and tell him to have Owen check him out and Ianto didn't _want _Owen to examine him. Their relationship had improved somewhat when Jack had suddenly taken off, the whole team had, in fact, bond in the Captain's absence, but it was mainly cordial and professional and Ianto rather preferred that the doctor not see the peculiar-shaped, fading pink marks dotting his shoulder's and torso, marks that had annoyingly lingered from his and Jack's rather _joyous _reunion about a week and half ago. So Ianto kept quiet about the problem, popping a pain reliever every now and then, and thinking little of it for the time being.

When the pain had subsided, Ianto stood and stretched, then padded over to the small bathroom. Leaning in the doorway, he smiled and watched the newly familiar scene. Ianto didn't know if it was a direct result of his experience with the Master or if Jack had always been this way, but the Captain was proving himself to be an insatiably clean person and an hour-shower type. Dissatisfied with Ianto's own, though by no means limited, supply of bath products, he'd taken to bringing his own when he visited his lover's apartment.

Jack and Ianto had indeed moved quickly when Jack had returned from his time with the Doctor. Jack had been away nearly a year in his timeline and had missed the Welshman, exceedingly. To Ianto, Jack had only been gone about a month, but his own feelings and need coupled with his accommodating nature had meant that his ardor quite matched Jack's and all had dissolved into a passionate whirlwind upon the Captain's return. Then, distracted as they were with each other, love had surreptitiously entered the equation and, while still very new, neither could deny it's golden presence and neither tried.

And so it came to 5:30 in the morning, and Ianto contentedly watching Jack soap his hair with something that smelled of berries and cream, which Jack insisted fell quite within the realm of metrosexuality, but what Ianto, and indeed the rest of the Torchwood team, secretly agreed was decidedly fruity. Upon rinsing, Jack then reached for a bottle with "Wildflower Wash" stamped across it, and began to work up a perfumed lather on his muscled chest, and that's when Ianto ceased to be content with merely watching and felt the increasing need for a shower of his own.

Jack turned and smiled broadly when Ianto, now rather bare, slid back the glass door and eased into the steamy nook. He held open soapy arms and Ianto stepped gladly into the embrace, relishing the feel of his lover against him, wet and firm and _wonderful._ He nuzzled Jack's skin softly, planting a feathery kiss and then light nip where neck met shoulder, and Jack made a sound rather like a mew. Lifting Ianto's chin gently with a finger he kissed him languidly. Tracing the contours of his face, Jack kissed softly upward.

"You smell like my Auntie's rose garden," Ianto murmured.

Jack paused and grinned wryly. "I love it when you talk dirty to me."

Ianto chuckled and pulled Jack down for another, deeper kiss.

Rinsing himself off, Jack squirted some more of the body wash into his hands and spread it in gentle circular motions over Ianto's shoulders, chest and torso. It was another thing he was getting used too – Jack's fixation on washing him.

"You are way to obsessed with the shower," The Welshman said, hissing and hunching his shoulders appreciatively as Jack massaged the soap into his skin.

"It's an American thing," the older man grinned. "As a people we take great personal pride in our appearance and smell."

They finished their shower, albeit with several pleasurable sidetracks, and toweled dry. As Jack headed off to the kitchen, still naked as a jaybird, to make breakfast (meaning, in Jack's case, pouring two bowls of cereal and some orange juice), Ianto bent over the sink and slid in his contact lenses. Turning from the mirror, Ianto suddenly paused and blinked. It was barely noticeable, but his vision seemed rather…out of focus, all of a sudden. He blinked again and reached for his rewetting drops, squeezing into each eye. No, still a little fuzzy. He had just opened a brand new pair of lenses too. Ianto frowned, peeved. He'd need to schedule an appointment with his eye doctor, and possibly get a new prescription f he couldn't see. He peered closely into the mirror, sliding the lens slowly over his eye, hoping it would settle into place and his vision would clear.

The he stopped again, and brought his hand around to look at his finger. There was some sort of strange sheen at the tip of the nail. He wiggled it experimentally and then looked at the other finger, bringing up his other hand to look at them too. The same, something vaguely silver at the tip of the finger nail. He tried to look closer, but just then, another one of the stomach pangs hit and he doubled over slightly, scrabbling around the bathroom counter for his Tylenol. Dry-swallowing one, he waited for the pain to go away.

"Ianto, hurry up, your breakfast is getting soggy!" The Welshman straightened just as Jack appeared in the bedroom doorway. "You okay?"

"Fine." Ianto said, putting on a smile. It quickly became a real smile as Jack returned it with one of his own. He almost hated to admit how much he loved seeing Jack smile – it made him feel like some teenage girl with a crush. Still, it provided a distraction for recent, strange happenings, and as Ianto headed out to eat breakfast with his lover, he quickly forgot about anything else, but the two of them.

_AN: Oooh, what's happening to Ianto? Next chapter: Ianto notices more strange things amid the latest at Torchwood Three. Please review!_


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